Kyoto, Japan- Photos

Golden Pavilion in Kyoto.

Lanterns in Kyoto.

Just a sign on a fence in front of a rice field.

Kyoto, Japan -October 2007

I was surprised to find that there was no hint of the speed we were traveling once we were on the shankisan. It didn’t feel any faster than Amtrak, but I know it was. The train was comfortable and gave me time to read up on Kyoto and do some serious people watching.

I was surprised at how incredibly fashionable everyone is in Japan. All the women looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine and even the men were well dressed with great shoes. Perhaps it was the lack of flip flops (which abound in Thailand) and Birkenstocks (which popped up everywhere in Oregon) which gave me this impression. The train speeds through some interesting but very suburban areas of Japan giving me plenty of time for watching and reading.

We arrived late afternoon then settled into the Ryokan Kyoraku where we would spend the next three nights. It was good to have one location for a few days. We ended up in Western beds with our own bathroom because the traditional rooms were full but the place was nice and the folks very friendly. It is a newer ryokan in the Welcome Inns listing (which is probably why they had a vacancy when no one else did) close to the Kyoto JR station.

We saw the city on bikes the first day, subway the second day and on the morning of the third we squeezed in a few more sites before we left for Nara. I think we could have spent a week here and still not seen everything.

Here are the things we saw:

• Kyoto Train Station: Opened in 1997, this place was highly underrated in our books. You can take escalators all the way to the 15^th floor observation level. Inside a building an escalator to the 15^th floor isn’t that big of a deal. But this is an outdoor atrium and it was lovely at night.
• Kiyomizu Temple: This temple is not for anyone with a fear of crowds! It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was full of tourists from Japan and beyond. The grounds have some spots which are a little off the beaten track if your agoraphobia kicks in somewhere around the “love stone.”
• Kennin-Ji:The oldest Zen temple in Kyoto was one of my favorite places in the city. You have to abandon your shoes at the entrance and pad your way through many lovely little rooms, over rock gardens and through moss gardens (they provide you with little rubber clogs for this part of the journey). This place was so peaceful and lovely. Be sure to check out the dragon paintings on the ceiling created for the temple’s 800^th anniversary.
• The old streets around Gion Corner. This is a good place particularly if you’re traveling with an architect or anyone interested in traditional Japanese arts. I think there are approximately 200 photos of this street on my husband’s computer now.
• Nishijin TextileCenter: This place was a tourist trap. I expected a museum but it’s really exhibits surrounding salespeople. I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I’d known.
• Kinkaku-ji: The golden pavilion is picture perfect and full of about 1000 Japanese school children on any given day. This is one of the “must sees” in Kyoto and when you’re there you do see everyone.
• Ryoan-ji: This is a temple famed for its rock garden. It was lovely and (when we were there) full of fat American tourists with a fascination for the inane. We overheard one guy asking his tour guide what this car with writing on the side was. Her answer, “That’s a taxi.” Wear ear plugs and try to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.
• Konchin Temple: We didn’t get to see much of this except for the aqueducts. The place was lovely but be careful on the slippery gravel walkway path when going downhill. Particularly when you’re tired. I’ll heal.
• Nijo Castle: This place was interesting to visit but, honestly, the best part was the “nightingale floors” which the Shogun had installed to protect him from sneak attacks. We expected the floors to creak or squeak like the wooden floors in our old New York City apartment but instead it was like hearing tiny birds chirp at every step.
• Area around the Museum of Modern Art: There is a tiny park near the Museum with art installations that was very quirky and fun. Everyone needs to have seen a 10 foot long duck made out of tissue paper complete with fairy wings and buxom breasts at least once in their life.
• Covered markets in the Nishiki area: Shopping and food. A great place to people watch. Be sure to try the Takoyaki if you eat octopus.

and the places we ate:

• Kane-yo: This place is listed in the Lonely Planet so I feared a tourist Mecca. Instead, we found a local tea house frequented by mainly older Japanese couple serving only delicious grilled unagi (eel) on rice. This place is highly recommended for all those unagi lovers out there! Alas, the barrels of live eels were gone.
• Misoka-An Kawamichiya: These folks have been making noodles for 300 years. I think they may have figured out how to do it right by now... Delicious! Had some fantastic sake here too.
• We stopped at a little cafe in the Gion area because a lady outside lured us in with a free sample of sweet Yatsuhashi (which were delicious!). The food was good and the price wasn’t bad but I didn’t catch the name.

Narita, Japan- October 2007

In late September/early October, we flew back to the US for a whirlwind trip through the Carolinas and Oregon. We’re moving back to the US soon and we’re kind of in the market for a new hometown. For a variety of reasons, we’ve selected the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. On the way back to Thailand, we were connecting through Japan so we thought we would stop in and see a bit of the country. I was in Japan many years ago with my parents but that was a very brief trip and I only saw the airport town of Narita. This time, my husband and I figured we would see a bit more. Our travel itinerary this time included Narita, Kyoto and Nara. Because we did so much during our one week, I will blog each city separately. This one is for Narita. I know the photo isn't really what you expect for a blog on Japan. But I took it in Narita and loved the way it turned out.

We arrived in Narita in the afternoon and headed for the Kirinoya Ryokan in Narita for our one night in this little airport town. In many places, the airport is built in locations to avoid bothering locals and in areas without a real town to speak of. This doesn’t seem to be the case in Narita. Narita is a lovely little suburb of Tokyo with a great rail system and good downtown area. I would happily stay here and commute into Tokyo to avoid the expense and hectic feeling of th big city. Indeed, our innkeeper (Mr. Katsumata) was happy to tell us about all of the Olympic (and near Olympic) athletes that came from the local high school and his own family.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn usually with a communal bathroom, tatami floors, hard pillows and cozy floor futons. We stayed almost exclusively in ryokans during our travels. They are usually cheaper and more comfortable than western hotels or business flop houses---according to our sources.

Mr. Katsumata settled us into our room with a tray of green tea and rice snacks. After tea, cleaning up a bit and airing out our clothes for the next day, we headed out to dinner. We selected a little sushi restaurant walking distance from the downtown. We love our sushi restaurants in New York City, but the spectacle of watching sushi plates riding around on a conveyor belt as sushi chefs took orders for specialty items is one that really shouldn’t be missed. It wasn't until two nights later we had sushi that was better than what we had in Brooklyn, but this was cheap, good and a fun experience. After our dinner, we walked back to our ryokan buzzing with too much green tea and sushi.

We both awoke before sunrise and stayed in our futons reading until a decent hour to get up and bump around without waking our innkeeper. The Japanese bath is an interesting experience but I have to say I was a bit too freaked out by the water from the tub that is never drained so I just took a normal shower and left the boards over the tub intact. We dressed and ate breakfast downstairs then walked up the hillside behind the high school to a lovely overlook and then back down to the Narita temple complex. By the end of our week long trip, we were getting a little “templed-out” but this was our first temple in Japan so we delighted in the sloping rooftop, the serene duck pond and the lanterns lining the forest paths. We then spent the rest of the early morning trying to work out our train tickets to and accommodations in Kyoto.

Let me now provide three pieces of advice I wish we had listened to in our book Japan by Rail (that we picked up at Powell Books in Portland).

1. Buy a Japan Rail pass BEFORE you leave for Japan so that you can travel cheaply. These passes are not available inside Japan and will make rail travel affordable and easier.
   
2. Book your ryokans via the Welcome Inn book or website. It includes all the same places as Lonely Planet (and more) but they’re easier to book because the information is complete and correct.
   
3. Book your hotels well in advance if traveling during the popular leaf-peeping season of October. This last piece was more difficult for us because of the way we were traveling to Japan, but if you can book well in advance, I recommend you do it. October is a fantastic time to travel in Japan with great weather and lovely autumn colors. Many Japanese families know this and are booking in the same ryokans you are.

We eventually worked out our next leg of travel and headed out on the noon shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.

Foods of Thailand- Sticky Rice

Kaow Niew or "sticky rice" is wonderful stuff they eat here in Thailand (and a few other countries). It is pretty time consuming to cook so you usually find it pre-cooked in little wicker baskets at restaurants or markets. We learned to make it at the Thai Farm Cooking Class. It is usually rolled into a ball and eaten with curries, spicy salads or grilled chicken. It can also be served with fruit and coconut milk as a dessert. Be careful! The Thais say it makes you very sleepy! Also it's bad luck not to replace the top on your basket when you're done eating your rice.

Dhamma Park

Near the city of Pasang about an hour from Chiang Mai is a little place called the Dhamma Park. Venetia and her husband, Inson, have created a haven for peace, art and reflection on the teachings of the Buddha. It's a very quiet and lovely place to visit if you have a chance.

Uttaradit- July 2006

Tales from the Bucket Brigade

Back in July 2006 we went to Uttaradit, a province south of Chiang Mai. One of the ladies I worked with was connected to a group called Siam Volunteers and they organized a weekend trip for us (7 Thais and 6 expats) to go down and help victims of the flood. In May 2006 the area between Chiang Mai and Bangkok experienced severe flash flooding. A number of people were killed, houses were destroyed and many people were homeless for months. We joined about 150 other people digging mud out of people's houses so they could leave their temporary shelters and return home. It was hard, hot, dirty and very rewarding.

We took a bus at (gulp) 4:30am from Chiang Mai 4 hours to the south. We arrived in Uttaradit Province at 9am and then climbed into the back of a pickup truck and (after breakfast at the Tesco Lotus) drove another half hour down to one of the worst hit regions in the Province. Around noon, we started working. My husband was assigned to work with the men using shovels to dig out mud and toss it into buckets. Then those buckets were handed out the door and swung from person to person down a line and dumped close to the river. I was a bucket swinger and it was not an easy job. We worked until 4pm then stopped for dinner. We were housed in different places in the village. My husband (with the guys) spent the night in a local school. I (with the girls and the katoeys) spent the night in an old Lanna house. All of us slept on the floor on sleeping bags but the girls had the benefit of mosquito nets which improves our sleep considerably.

After showers, dinner and more snacking we all passed out and awoke the next morning to the same work. It was hot, sweaty, muddy, mucky, smelly and made us all very, very sore. But it was also great to work as a team with my Thai colleagues and hundreds of others. I also learned lots of useful Thai- bucket, empty, tired and muddy place- for example. We were able to see another province and the scenery both ways was lovely. We returned late at night and after about 10 showers trying to get mud out of finger nails and hair we ate at Pizza Hut and passed out on the couch watching a movie. The next day we could barely lift our arms!

Karon Beach- October 2006

Last October we traveled back to visit our family in the US and on the return trip we stopped off in Phuket to burn off our jetlag. We flew 12Go from Bangkok in the afternoon. Actually, I am sad to say that it seems that the same flight we were on a year ago crashed into the Phuket airport killing 87 people. We weren’t terribly pleased with 12Go. The flight was late, as were all the other flights we flew on with them, and the return flight was terrible. At least the water was free!

Once we arrived, we immediately took a minivan from Phuket to the quieter Karon Beach and checked into our hotel Baan Karonburi Resort This was a very nice place but a little too Holiday Inn- like. The food was good, the air conditioner was great and the rooms were very clean but it just felt a little fake. The beach was lovely and I really enjoyed the day just reading and resting out on the beach.

The second day, we took a nice snorkeling trip with the Leisure 4 group to Phi Phi Khai Island. It was an all day affair. The first half was spent at some horribly touristy sites filled with giant tourists crunching over delicate coral. The second half they took us to some less touristy places and left the kiddies on the beach while the adults did more serious snorkeling. We saw some beautiful things and really enjoyed this part.

The beach was beautiful, the water was warm and the sunsets were gorgeous. I highly recommend Karon Beach over Phuket. Where ever you stay and whatever you do the beach is quieter and more relaxing. Which is more than I can say for our trip home.

We traveled home to Chiang Mai and had one of the most ridiculous trips ever! The flight connected through Bangkok and ran late. In order to connect on 12Go you have to go out through arrivals, come back through ticketing, check in, go back through departures and get on the plane. Because the flight ran late, we had to run for it with our backpacks to make our connecting flight which departed 20 minutes after our arrival. We sprinted through the airport, picked up our tickets at ticketing dashed through departures and ran onto...the same plane we had just got off from Phuket. We actually sat one row away from where we sat on the previous flight which we knew because the sound system was broken in the back so we couldn't hear the safety video and the tray table in our old row kept falling down. Other passengers with checked bags or without our sprinting skills actually missed the flight. Karon Beach I can recommend, 12Go I cannot.